Electronic Signature Laws in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA). It did so through the Electronic Transactions Act, signed into law by Governor Tom Ridge on December 16, 1999 (Act 69 of 1999), and codified at 73 P.S. § 2260.101 et seq. (running through § 2260.5101). The statute states its own short title plainly: at § 2260.101 it provides that the act may be cited as the Electronic Transactions Act, while its core uniform chapters may be cited as the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. Pennsylvania was an early adopter, enacting its version the same year the national UETA model law was finalized. Under this statute, an electronic signature is an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record. The core rule is straightforward: a record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form, and where the law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies that requirement.

Pennsylvania's Electronic Transactions Act works hand in hand with the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN Act), 15 U.S.C. § 7001 et seq., which took effect in 2000 and applies in every state. ESIGN expressly allows a state to modify, limit, or supersede its provisions if the state has enacted UETA as approved by the national commissioners. Because Pennsylvania adopted a substantially uniform version of UETA, the state statute is the primary day-to-day framework for electronic signatures in Pennsylvania, while ESIGN continues to provide a nationwide federal backstop, particularly for interstate and foreign commerce. In practice the two laws are highly consistent: both make electronic signatures and records legally valid, both apply only to parties who have agreed to transact electronically, and both preserve consumer-protection rules around electronic disclosures.

Pennsylvania law carves out specific transactions that the Electronic Transactions Act does not cover. The scope provision (73 P.S. § 2260.104) follows the UETA model and excludes transactions to the extent they are governed by a law on the creation and execution of wills, codicils, or testamentary trusts, and to the extent they are governed by 13 Pa.C.S. (Pennsylvania's commercial code). The commercial-code exclusion has its own carve-backs: the act still applies to 13 Pa.C.S. sections 1107 (waiver or renunciation after breach) and 1206 (statute of frauds for personal property not otherwise covered), to Division 2 (sales), and to Division 2A (leases). Estate-planning documents in the excluded category generally still require traditional execution; Pennsylvania courts have read the will exclusion to preserve the requirement that a will be signed with an ink signature or mark at its end. Separately, notarization in Pennsylvania is handled under the Commonwealth's notary law rather than the Electronic Transactions Act: Pennsylvania permanently authorized remote online notarization (RON) through Act 97 of 2020, effective October 29, 2020, codified in Title 57 (the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts). Notaries must notify and register their technology with the Department of State and retain an audiovisual recording of each remote notarization for at least ten years. Court rules may still call for wet-ink signatures on certain official filings and orders, so practice can vary by county and tribunal.

What this means practically is that for the vast majority of everyday agreements in Pennsylvania, an electronic signature is just as binding as a pen-on-paper one. Service agreements, sales contracts, leases, consents, employment paperwork, NDAs, and similar business and consumer documents can all be signed online and enforced in Pennsylvania courts, provided the parties agreed to do business electronically and the signature is attributable to the signer with intent to sign. To strengthen enforceability, keep a clear audit trail showing who signed, when, and from where, retain a complete copy of the signed record, and obtain affirmative consent to electronic transacting. For the narrow categories that fall outside the act, such as wills, certain estate-planning instruments, and documents requiring particular notarial formalities, confirm the specific execution requirements before relying on an e-signature. When in doubt about a high-stakes or excluded document, consult a Pennsylvania attorney. This is general information, not legal advice.